The Speakmans
ITV, 2pm
Viewers of This Morning will know the Speakmans, the husband and wife therapists. Their celebrity client list includes Kerry Katona (it needs two people to help sort out her problems) and Kym Marsh, but their attention in this, their own daily daytime series, is very much on the general public. Ordinary people they may be but their psychological issues are anything but, including a woman with a compulsion to pull her hair out and a man with a fear of swallowing.
BBC2, 9pm
Ever wondered what happens to the charity sack load of clothes you leave out on the pavement after it has been collected? As Ade Adepitan discovers, most don’t reach the rail of the local charity shop – they’re exported to Africa. And even though we’ve given them away for free, our castoffs have created a multi-million pound industry as some of the world’s poorest people pay good money to buy them – at the expense of their own local textile industries.
Channel 4, 9pm
This new eight-part documentary series is from the same people who brought us Educating Yorkshire but the schooling on show is of a more outdoors and arduous nature (some would argue the pupils of Thornhill Community Academy would benefit from the same, but that’s a debate for another day). Basic training for the Royal Marines Commando unit is arguably the toughest military training programme in the world. Drill instructor, Corporal ‘Froggy’ Chauffour certainly takes a different approach to tutoring to Mr Mitchell.
Chocolate Perfection With Michel Roux Jr
BBC4, 9pm
I like fine dining and have no problem paying £100 for a meal if I feel the food warrants it. However, my palate loses all sense of taste when it comes to chocolate. Give me a Twix over a box of expensive truffles any day. It’s a mystery Michel Roux Jr doesn’t tackle in this documentary on chocolate’s rich and varied history. I was interested to discover it was once considered an aphrodisiac in the court of Louis XIV. Now it’s the food of choice for people settling down in front of Coronation Street, which is actually a bit of a passion killer in my house, if I’m honest.
Channel 4, 10pm
Dennis Kelly’s acclaimed – if slightly eccentric – conspiracy thriller returns for a second six-part series. It’s 1974, and a science genius meets an idealistic security services agent at a secret forum for political, business and academic leaders. Together, they hatch a plan to save the human race from the horrific ramifications of over-population. We then move on five years and find the scientist at the edge of his sanity. Continues on Tuesday.
BBC1, 10.35pm (BBC Scotland, 11.35pm)
Rio Ferdinand’s debut as a BBC analyst has been a case of a few pearls of wisdom combined with the odd occasion when he’s looked like his tight trousers have restricted the blood flow to his brain during the World Cup. But he has to be on the ball as he presents this documentary looking at Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (yes, another one). “I’m from Peckham. It’s a bad area, but it’s luxury compared to this,” says Rio, possibly misquoting Monty Python.
Nick & Margaret: Too Many Immigrants?
BBC1, 9pm (BBC Scotland, 11.35pm)
Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford explore the impact that Britain’s nearly eight million immigrants are having on the UK in an experiment that seems to be asking for trouble. Five UK-born citizens with strong views on immigration follow five immigrants at work and at home to assess whether they really are as big a drain on the country’s resources as they think. (Due to Celtic’s Champions League match with KR Reykjavík, this programme will be broadcast at 11.35pm in Scotland)
BBC2, 9pm
Returning from the expansive coastline of Australia, the Coast team are narrowing their sights to one of the shallowest (and busiest) seaways in the world – the English Channel. Neil Oliver discovers how the wreck of a First World War troop ship was used to demonstrate racial inequality during Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid rule.